Giants rely on aces in push for postseason

DENVER — For all the struggles the Giants have faced in the second half of this season, they are still clinging to a potential NL Wild Card spot.

Rest assured, the rest of the National League has noticed.

And it makes the other contenders uncomfortable.

While the Giants have struggled to find consistency with the fourth and fifth spots in their rotation they feature a Big 3 that can dominate, particularly with the maturing of Jeff Samardzija, the No. 3 starter behind the proven duo of Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto.

First, though, the Giants have to get back to the postseason, which is proving to be a challenge. After putting together the best record in baseball before the All-Star break (57-33), the Giants have struggled. Entering Wednesday night’s series finale at Colorado with a 17-31 record since the All-Star break, they have seen a 6 1/2-game lead on the Dodgers become a four-game deficit.

The Giants are No. 1 in the battle for the two Wild Card spots, but they went into Wednesday night only one game ahead of the Cardinals and 1 1/2 games in front of the Mets.

“We have to get there [to the postseason] before we get too caught up about what might be,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

They do, however, have an advantageous remaining schedule.

After Wednesday, their final 23 games are in NL West stadiums. They open a three-game series in Arizona on Friday night and will be in California for their final 20 games. Thirteen of their final 23 games are against teams with losing records …

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